


The Best Laid Plans

by TottWriter



Category: Digimon Adventure
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 18:39:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13254303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TottWriter/pseuds/TottWriter
Summary: Mimi had been planning the perfect Christmas get-together formonths. Every detail had been worked out, every guest accommodated for. Picking up Sora at the last minute and heading out to the country house destination together was just the icing on the cake. It was going to be the ultimate festive holiday for everyone, and nothing could possibly go wrong.Except for an unexpected snowstorm preventing almost anyone actually getting there, and stranding her and Sora alone together that is.Then again...she could make it work.





	The Best Laid Plans

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as part of the Secretsantamon exchange, as a gift for rockthistowninsideout! 
> 
> Huge, _huuuge_ apologies for how late it has ended up being. Part two will be coming along as soon as my hand heals enough to type for longer periods of time (along with a proper author's note, but typing is not my friend right now!)

The invitations had gone out in  _ September _ . It wasn’t as though anyone could make an excuse like having plans already. Mimi had gone out of her way to make sure she’d gotten in first. Oh, certainly Jou had complained that he had exams or something, but Jou always had exams coming up, and it wouldn’t kill him to come along just this once. 

She’d managed to get the promise out of him in the end, and then  _ another  _ promise from more or less everyone else that, between them, they’d actually make sure he arrived. It was almost like old times again. 

With less than a week until Christmas, Mimi packed up her things and flew home. Everything was going to be wonderful. 

 

* * *

 

It had been years plural since the last time they had managed to have a get-together for anything other than their annual memorial at the beginning of August. There had even been occasions when they hadn’t managed to be together for  _ that _ , with Jou vanishing to study before Mimi’s plane landed, or Sora trapped at a fashion show she couldn’t leave until long after most of the others had gone their separate ways. The younger Chosen did their best to attend too, but the date had never held quite the same significance for them—New Year’s Eve was their day. Mimi had been sure to allow for that when she’d booked the time in everyone’s calendars. No one would be missing out on  _ her  _ watch!

Still, it wasn’t until her plane touched down on Japanese soil that she really allowed herself to relax a little. Sora had sent a message to say her plane would arrive on the 23rd, which would mean that everyone would finally be in the same country again. Taichi had followed it up with the announcement that he and Koushirou would be taking it upon themselves to kidnap Jou from whatever studies he had gotten lost in, to which Yamato had dryly remarked that perhaps they shouldn’t have announced their plans so openly if they wanted them to actually  _ work _ . Despite her jetlag, Mimi couldn’t help but smile as she read the messages she had missed while in the air. It was almost like old times again.

And really, there was nothing quite so good as the feeling of a plan coming together. Perhaps it was partly a side-effect of the festive cheer which Mimi had been filled with even before leaving America, but she couldn’t quite shake her certainty that it was going to be a  _ perfect  _ Christmas. Her parents had even covered the cost of the hotel room she would be staying in for the few days before Christmas Eve, while she sorted out the car hire with her shiny new International Driving Permit and stocked up on everything she would need.

Tokyo was cold and crisp, a few early flakes of snow preceding the larger fall forecast to arrive over the New Year. It was a little surreal to be in Japan and driving, but there was no time to waste worrying about all the minor differences. She had food and decorations to buy, and only a few days to collect what she needed and make her way out to the modest house her parents owned, legacy of a great aunt she had been too young to remember meeting. 

_ ::Is it okay if I come up a day early?:: _

The message alert came through early in the morning on Christmas Eve, as Mimi was packing things into her rental car, tucking the more fragile items into the footwells of the rear seats. She relaxed down across the seats to reply, suddenly glad she’d opted for one of the larger vehicles available to rent.

_ ::Sora!! Of course it’s okay! I’m still in Tokyo if you want to drive up together? The car’s quite full though so it might be a bit of a squeeze.:: _

Without waiting for a reply, she set about clearing some space for Sora, sure that her invitation would be accepted. She was  _ pretty  _ sure that Sora hadn’t learnt to drive, and really it was the opposite of a bother to have someone with her for the journey. It might even be like one of those road trips some of her friends in the States had been planning for the following summer. 

She got a reply just as she’d finished rearranging the supplies so that there was room for both Sora  _ and  _ her bags—hopefully. It really would depend on what the other woman brought with her, although she couldn’t remember Sora ever being one to over-pack. In fact, she was normally quite sensible and conservative with her luggage, making sure she had the smallest possible number of garments with her that she could get away with for whatever length of stay she and Mimi has crossed paths on. 

_ ::Oh, if that’s okay with you! That would be perfect, actually. I’m almost ready to go myself. Looking forward to seeing everyone again!:: _

 

* * *

 

Sora’s mother still lived in the same apartment on Odaiba. It was decidedly odd to be driving those streets again. Stranger than driving around the rest of Tokyo by far, even despite the fact she had only ever driven a right-hand drive car a handful of times. Sora was already waiting downstairs, wrapped up in a thick coat with her suitcase by her feet. She smiled broadly as Mimi ran over.

“It’s good to see you!” Mimi cried, wrapping her arms around Sora and hugging her tightly. “I can’t believe you’re studying in America as well and I  _ still  _ haven’t seen you since August!”

Sora returned the hug, but pulled away a fraction of a second before Mimi was expecting her to, standing straighter. 

“Well, America is a lot larger than Japan,” she said with a smile. “But perhaps in the spring we could try and arrange something? It  _ does  _ seem silly not to, you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right!” Mimi cried, snatching up Sora’s bag. “I’m always right about these things! Now it’s a long drive, so we’d better get going because unpacking in the dark is  _ awful _ , and it’s going to take a while to get the irori lit properly. And I hope you packed warm clothes, because I don’t think anyone’s stayed there since the spring and it’s very traditional.”

Being in the car with Sora was simultaneously the easiest and hardest thing about their journey out of the city. Easy because with Sora there, she had a distraction from the endless traffic. Hard because the distraction kept making her forget that all the controls in the car were the reverse of what she was used to, and the middle of a busy junction that wasn’t the moment to have a minor crisis about which lane she was meant to be pulling into at the best of times, let alone when she had an audience. 

Still, as they finally left the Tokyo streets behind and pulled out onto slightly quieter roads it got better. She’d expected the journey to be quiet and perfunctory, a necessary evil in order to reach her destination. Instead, she found herself listening to the radio with Sora, singing along to songs both familiar and alien. From the way Sora hummed most of the lyrics instead of singing them, they were both in a similar position. 

The skies had clouded over by the time they pulled onto a narrow, halfway winding lane into the mountains. 

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Sora asked doubtfully, sitting up straighter to peer at the surrounding countryside.

“I  _ did  _ say that it’s remote,” Mimi replied, drumming her fingers along the wheel. “I printed out a map for the others though, so they should be alright.”

Sora  _ hmmed _ , reaching forward to fiddle with something in her bag. “Let’s just hope Taichi isn’t driving then, or they’ll never get here.”

“Of course Taichi isn’t driving,” Mimi said gleefully, before frowning to herself as she almost reached for the gearshift on the wrong side of the wheel. “I made him promise months ago when I set this up! Sometimes I wonder how we ever managed to get  _ anywhere  _ in the digital world.”

Sora’s laugh was high and musical, offset by the scrunch of plastic as she rummaged in a bag of snacks. “I see you really did think of  _ everything  _ then,” she remarked. 

“Of course! You mean you  _ doubted  _ me?”

It was delightfully easy to fall back into a relaxed conversation with Sora. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t  _ properly  _ seen each other in years; their friendship was just as solid as it had ever been, tried and tested under fire and over time. Mimi felt herself relaxing past a level of uncertainty she hadn’t even been aware had existed—the last nagging doubt that her plan would turn out right despite all the years which had passed since they’d had a  _ real  _ gathering.

“Oh, look, it’s snowing!” 

Mimi saw the flakes even as Sora cried out, and grimaced. “As long as it doesn’t settle on the roads,” she said. “The others won’t be setting out for a few hours yet.” She gritted her teeth, tutting with irritation. “I can’t believe I forgot to check the forecast!”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Sora said, fishing for her phone. “I can…oh, damn. We’ve got mobile signal, but no internet this far out. I can’t look.”

“There’s internet at the cottage,” Mimi said, sighing. “I insisted, back when we lived in Japan last and went to stay there sometimes. We can check it when we arrive. It’s not far now, just another twenty minutes or so.”

“And then the hard work starts, eh?” 

Mimi glanced over at Sora, and felt her heart sigh a little at the broad, warm smile on the other woman’s face. 

“We can make it fun,” she said. 

 

* * *

 

The snow was falling harder as she pulled off the main road onto a short gravel track. In front of them, the cottage looked like something out of a picture postcard, nestled up against the hill with its unkempt garden butting right up against the walls.

“Oh  _ wow _ , you really weren’t exaggerating about this place,” Sora remarked as they pulled to a halt. She unclipped her safety belt. “Do you mind if I grab some shots before we lose the light? I’ve a shoot coming up and this is  _ just  _ the aesthetic I’ve been looking for to set my models against.”

“I have to unlock the shutters anyway,” Mimi said, shrugging. “Go right ahead!”

“I know it’s silly, really,” Sora said, as she opened the car door. A few flakes drifted inside. “We’ll be here for days, but with the snow falling, it’s just…I won’t be long, anyway. I only need to capture the mood for reference.”

“You could probably come up here if you need a location for your shoot,” Mimi said. “Oh, wait, you’ll be back in America by then. Urgh, I keep forgetting! This place is a time warp, I swear. I get here and it’s like the rest of the world suddenly doesn’t exist any more.”

She left the car unlocked. This far out into the countryside there was no one to steal it, after all. Anyone who  _ did  _ pass by would be more likely to stop off at the house and welcome her back, probably remarking on how much she’d grown since they saw her last—even though she’d stopped growing  _ years  _ ago. Just because she’d gotten taller even than her Mama, everyone seemed to think she was a regular marvel. It was the strangest thing.

The shutters were stiff, especially in the cold, damp air, but they clattered back after a little pushing and shoving. She left most of them closed—it  _ was  _ winter, after all, even if the light from the shoji would be far more welcoming than dark wooden walls when the others arrived. The two closest to the genkan would have to be enough. Once all the cars were parked and everyone was inside, things would be a lot easier.

“Hello old house,” she whispered softly, leaning inside. The air was cool and musty. She left her shoes on—there was no point unlacing her boots until she’d carried the things across from the car—but knelt on the floor with her feet hanging in the air over the genkan, and patted the wall. “We’ll get you dried out soon.”

Sora met her as she was carrying the third load of bags over to the genkan, cheeks red and eyes alight.

“Mimi this place is  _ gorgeous _ ,” she cried. “I’m sorry I took so long, but honestly…the scenery around here is perfect. I can’t believe it’s yours!”

She took one of the bags from Mimi’s hand as she spoke, falling into step beside her.

“Well, technically it still belongs to my parents, but they’ve said they don’t really enjoy staying out here because it’s so old-fashioned,” Mimi replied with a shrug. “So I more or less took over making sure it was looked after. They don’t mind it in the summer but in winter they’re too used to living in America, with warm houses and everything like that.” She twisted her mouth into a wry grin. “They’re even more spoilt than everyone used to say I was.”

She watched as Sora’s face contorted, mingled amusement and embarrassment battling each other for dominance of her features. 

“Ha! I knew you wouldn’t know what to say to that!” she crowed, setting her bags down on the floor inside. “Come on, there’s only a few more loads to go, and I want to get it all in before this snow gets any worse. My hair’s gone all frizzy!”

 

* * *

 

The snow was still falling after they had stowed the food in the kitchen, and run all the taps to ensure they were working properly. By the time the irori was lit, and some of the decorations set up, it had settled into a thin white blanket across the rental car and road alike. Mimi stood at the door, peering out down the driveway. 

“It’s getting thicker…” she muttered, chewing on her bottom lip. 

A hand settled on her shoulder. “I checked the forecast,” Sora said, her voice low and soft. “It’s not going to ease up until morning. They’re saying the wind will get stronger too.” She cleared her throat. “There’s…a message, from some of the others.”

Sora held out her phone, tilting it so that Mimi could see the screen. It was open at the most recent messages of their group chat:

_ ::We’ve been keeping an eye on the forecast all day. It’s been deteriorating from what it said yesterday by quite a lot. I hate to say this, but…realistically, by the time Taichi and I can fetch Jou and get the car packed, the roads simply won’t be safe to drive on any more. We’re going to have to sit tight and wait for the weather to clear.:: _

_ ::I’m sorry. I know this has been planned for a long time. Hopefully the snow will have eased by morning. We can dig our way through as long as it’s not actively snowing, but as things are the advice on all fronts is not to travel unless it’s an emergency.:: _

“But…But it’s  _ Christmas Eve _ ,” Mimi found herself wailing, reading and re-reading Koushirou’s messages until her eyes blurred, desperately trying to convince herself that she must have misread them somehow. “And I’ve been planning this since September! All the food—and the decorations, too!”

How could it happen? How could two short messages upend everything so completely? It wasn’t  _ fair _ . She’d been planning it for so long, and now—

“They’ll be able to get through in the morning,” Sora said, squeezing Mimi’s shoulder gently. “And you  _ know  _ Taichi wouldn’t have agreed to wait unless the roads looked really bad. I know it’s not how you’d planned things, but I’m sure they’ll make it up by tomorrow evening, so it’ll still count as a Christmas celebration. It’s just a delay, that’s all. ”

“If Taichi can’t get through, no one else will,” Mimi found herself whining. “No one’s coming, and I had the whole evening planned, and breakfast, and—”

Sora pulled her into a hug, wrapping her arms lightly around her shoulders. “Hey, at least I’m here, right? We can still have fun while we wait for the weather to clear. And we’ll get this whole place set up for when they arrive.”

Mimi rested her head against Sora’s shoulder, looking out past her at the rapidly swirling flakes. 

“I feel like I predicted the future,” she said after a moment, voice a low murmur. Neither one of them mentioned that they probably didn’t need to be hugging any more. “When I got here I said about how this place making the rest of the world seem like it’s not there. And now, look. It’s all turned into a snowstorm.”

“It’ll take more than a snowstorm to stop the others getting here tomorrow,” Sora pointed out. “So until they get here, let’s do our best to get this place feeling festive, okay?”

“Okay,” Mimi replied. “But…first, I think I want to go and warm up. I’m turning into an icicle, stood here like this.”

They drew the shutters closed around the house. There was no point leaving them open, after all—if the others weren’t setting out until morning there was no one to guide in with the light, and it was already cold enough that they both agreed that they should preserve what heat they could. 

The small fire in the irori was surprisingly bright—enough that they hardly needed the electric lamps around the room. Mimi left them on anyway. All the while they were decorating it helped to be able to see clearly. 

“We can turn them off for the atmosphere after we bundle up,” she said. 

Sora laughed, looking down at the full winter gear they were still wearing. Neither one of them had even shed scarves and hats. “What do you call this, then?” 

Rather than answer, Mimi threw the plastic bauble she’d been holding at her. It ricocheted off Sora’s shoulder and bounced into the corner with a rattle.

“You can get that,” she said imperiously, lifting her chin and looking down her nose at Sora. “As owner of this house—”

“I thought you said your  _ parents  _ still owned it,” Sora replied, hands on hips. Only the glint in her eyes betrayed the otherwise severe expression on her face. “You can’t get me with that pretty princess routine.” She relaxed after a moment, smiling and reaching over to tap the tip of Mimi’s nose with her index finger. “Fetch it yourself. The sooner we get this done the sooner we can get warm by the fire.”

 

* * *

 

Mimi had never objected to hard graft now and then, but there was no denying that it was a lot more enjoyable to get stuck into a task with good company to share the workload. She’d  _ missed  _ this, she realised—missed the cheerful conversations she could have with Sora, without any of the barriers or topics which they had agreed never to mention to anyone outside the Chosen. And perhaps it was the novelty of seeing her again, but it really felt that there was something in particular about Sora’s company which reassured her. Of all the people she could have been stuck in an old house overnight with… She felt as though she’d struck gold.

With Sora’s help the box-loads of decorations went up around the house, although they had to get a little creative in places, thanks to the lack of power sockets compared with more modern houses. The small fridge in the kitchen was still cooling down after having been powered off for months, but the irony of the weather worked in their favour there. The house was cold enough that they could simply leave any food which needed chilling by the outer walls to stay fresh. 

“It’s been a  _ long  _ time since I cooked over a fire,” Mimi remarked, as they settled down by the irori with blankets wrapped around them. “Ha! I think it was actually in the digital world.” 

They were close, nestled in twin cocoons just a few centimetres apart. There was heat from the little fire in the hearth, but the cold pressed on them from the other side, all the more biting for the fact they had been spoilt by the electric heaters and thicker walls in Tokyo. Outside, the snowstorm was picking up. Wind whipped around the house with a low, mournful howl. 

Sora stared past the fire at the walls opposite them and tugged her blanket more tightly around her shoulders, smiling wistfully. “Maybe next year we should spend Christmas there, then. At least we wouldn’t have to worry so much about unexpected blizzards.” She paused a moment, frowning. “Then again, perhaps we might. I suppose you can never really tell.”

“Right now I just wish there was better internet out here so we can have our partners with us,” Mimi said, sighing. “That’s the one problem with it, really. The connection is just so slow.” She frowned. “Actually, it might go out, in all this wind. I think the cables are overhead.”

She fumbled in her pocked for her phone, fishing it out and holding it as close to the fire as she really dared. There were several more messages from the others in their group chat since the last time she’d checked. The most recent was from Takeru, and had arrived just a few seconds earlier:

_ ::Yamato and I are holed up at my dad’s apartment for now:: _ it read. _ ::It’s settling on the roads here, so we won’t be able to get away until they’re cleared. I don’t see it happening until later in the morning though. They’ll have to get out here first.:: _

Even as she watched, Mimi saw Taichi’s reply appear:

_ ::Well don’t take chances. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much snow in Tokyo before. Koushiro’s parents have the news on and they’re already saying that people have been seriously injured trying to get around the city. At least this is all meant to stop some time in the night. They’ll get to you when they get to you, after that.:: _

She couldn’t help it; she giggled. Beside her, Sora looked up with eyebrows raised, humming a question as Mimi tapped out a reply. 

“I just realised I should have expected this,” Mimi said, hitting send. “It’s the most  _ us  _ thing which has ever happened. When have our plans ever worked out like we expected them to? Who needs the digital world to split us up when we can do it ourselves here in the real one!”

_ ::Don’t worry, everyone! Please just stay safe! Sora and I are fine here, sat next to a fire like old times. I guess it’s just going to be a more adventurous Christmas for us than we were expecting. Make sure you all travel up together when you do set out—the roads up here are very remote, and I don’t want you getting stuck with no help. We might lose internet in the night, so you’ll be on your own. I’m sure you’ll get here safely if you work together like old times. Come rescue us damsels in distress from our snowy prison!:: _

Sora’s phone bleeped, and her face lit with amusement as she read Mimi’s message. “We’re hardly damsels in distress you know,” she said, nudging Mimi’s blanket cocoon with a much-padded elbow.

Mimi grinned. “Oh, I know, but now they have  _ motivation _ ,” she replied. “And when they get here we can surprise them! There are some snow shovels somewhere in one of the sheds—if this really is going to blow over in the night, we can wake up and clear the driveway for when they arrive, and get a heroes welcome set up inside.”

“Ha! Well, they have to get here first. And we’ll have to survive this  _ terrible blizzard _ ,” Sora replied, her voice rive with dramatic overtones. 

She smiled as she spoke, but the expression slipped a little as the wind picked that exact moment to pick up, rattling the shutters loudly. She sagged. “Well, damn. I went and cursed it, didn’t I.”

“We’ll live,” Mimi said, determined not to give in to another bout of gloom. It was strange really, but the worse the situation got, the less she minded that her plan had been spoilt. There was something about re-framing it as a battle against the elements which brought her round to feeling oddly cheerful again. She was  _ not  _ about to back down from a fight when something important was at stake, even if the ‘fight’ really was just sitting tight and waiting until morning so that she could see what the weather had brought them.

“We can’t keep the fire burning this brightly all night,” Sora pointed out. “At some point we’ll have to bank it a little, so that it doesn’t go out while we sleep. It’ll get colder then.”

“We can huddle up for warmth,” Mimi said stubbornly. “And we’ve the extra futons and blankets. I know it’s not perfect, but it’s just for one night and then everyone else will be here too. We’ll be plenty warm then.” 

The shutters rattled more loudly, wind howling through the eaves. A draught picked up, tickling the back of her neck. Mimi turned around, staring at the corridor for a moment before realising what must have happened. 

“The back door,” she moaned, shuffling back from the irori. “I bolted all the shutters, but I must have forgotten to secure it. I bet it’s blown loose from where we were shaking out the futons earlier.” She got to her feet. “Wait right there; I’ll go close it up before the whole house is full of snow.”

Really, the timing was quite perfect. She couldn’t have asked for better in a film. No sooner had she gotten to her feet and started walking than the lights flickered and went out, plunging the majority of the house into darkness. The light from the fire behind her cast long, dancing shadows across the shoji screens. 

“Well  _ that’s  _ perfect,” Sora remarked, voice heavy and dry. “I suppose we should have expected it really.”

Mimi nodded. “I’ve got my phone for light,” she said. “Just as well we already had the fire going instead of relying on the heaters. I won’t be long.”

The house was twice as creepy in the dark, although the faint glow of the fire followed her. Even if her phone had died—and thankfully it was sitting at almost a full charge—she wouldn’t have been in pitch blackness thanks to the traditional walls and screens. Still, she hurried along as fast as she dared in the gloom. It was too cold to dawdle, especially if the door really  _ had  _ blown open. 

Mobile phones were wonderful, really they were. Although faint, the light from the screen was enough to show fat flakes settling on the kitchen’s floor, gusting in through an open door which swung slowly back and forth in the eddying wind. Outside was another matter entirely—the snow came down like rain, driven furiously against the ground by the wind. It was too dark to make out how much of it had settled already, but if it kept up that pace for long, there would probably be some considerably large drifts by morning.

Shivering, Mimi made her way across the room and closed the door, bracing herself against it for the last few centimetres when the wind began to buffet against it. She sighed with relief as the deadbolt slid home, holding it fast against the storm. 

_ Thank goodness _ , she thought, relaxing against the wood a moment. 

She didn’t stay there long. The only source of heat in the house was the fire, and there was no sense wasting her phone’s battery for light when she had no idea when the power would return—if it even could. If the overhead wires had gone down somewhere, they’d be relying on the small generator her parents had installed in an outbuilding, and there would be no hope of reaching that until the morning. 

“All sorted?” Sora asked as Mimi walked back into the living room, already shivering.

“Yes, thankfully,” she replied. “Although I don’t think I’ll ever be warm again.”

“Well you were the one who suggested huddling together for warmth,” Sora said, waving her over. “We might as well try to save the wood and hunker down early.”

Sora’s hand was warm still as Mimi let herself be pulled down to sit beside the other woman, unable to help a small sigh of contentment as she helped tuck the blankets around them both. 

 


End file.
